Vicissitude
by Bittersweet Romanticide
Summary: No matter how hard Ash wanted things to stay the same, people changed. Misty changed, he changed, and as hard as it was to accept it, the dictionary she threw in his lap left him with no other choice. Very, very slight hints of AAML.


**Diclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, nor any of the characters mentioned below. Isn't that just tragic?**

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**_Definition of vicissitude: change_

He was awfully surprised when she showed up at his house. Though, her being there, caught in the act of talking with his mother, did not even seem to make her flinch. No embarrassed stumbling, no awkward explanation to as why she was there. It was just calm, cool Misty, casually explaining an even that should have been unexplainable. He was the one caught off guard, barely able to blurt out something he hoped was "Hullo, Misty!" and not "What the hell are you doing in my house when I'm not here?" and definitely not, "My mom showed you the naked baby pictures, didn't she?" all of which would be horrifying. Then, she had the nerve to act like nothing was wrong! She acted as if all was fine and dandy and she did not mind his presence.

After a while, she asked if they could go up to his room. He was all set to say no. His chest puffed with pride, his eyes sparkling with hope of a fight, he had his mouth open to deny when she smiled. She leaned forward, head tilted slightly to one side in her hand. Somehow, she was cute enough for his mouth to move without consent and the hand that once supported her hand then dragged him upstairs and locked the door behind them.

"So, Ash," she asked, lying on her stomach as she looked down from the bed, _his _bed. "How has your life been going? I'd love to hear all about your adventures! What happened to your old clothes? How could you give up your hat? Why aren't you calling your mother every week? Why did you stop talking to me and Tracey and Gary? How many badges did you get? How many pokémon did you catch? How'd you do in competition? How are the kids you're traveling with? Why don't you rotate your pokémon anymore? Why don't you argue so much with the new girl? Why don't you argue with the new boy? And, most importantly, am I allowed to try and sell some of your old stuff on the internet? Turns out you have some fangirls too."

"Misty…I don't…" ge stared. "What the hell are you doing in my house?"

"Ooh! Another question!" she exclaimed, her face lit up brighter than a Charizard's flame. "Do you still only swear when we're alone? I bet you do. You've always been worried about that. I already explained why I was in your house and that's the only reason. I know you're awfully shocked that I'm here, but I'm not going to repeat myself and you're absolutely crazy if you think I will."

"I…" he began. His voice couldn't seem to work as he wanted it to. His throat was working to tell her everything that happened, but his eyes were staring vaguely ahead. "I don't even think I remember all the questions."

"I'm not surprised; I don't remember all the questions either. It's just been such a long time since I've seen you and I really want to know absolutely everything! I've missed you and I've missed traveling. If I can't have exciting stuff happen, at least I can hear about it!"

"There's a lot to cover. I don't think I could remember it all," he laughed, easing into the situation. Pikachu, once as tense as her master, relaxed and began to wander the room, sniffing to see if anything had changed since last they'd visited.

"You still keep a journal, don't you, Ash? You still store all you thought in Dexter," she stated. "I know it's a weird thing to ask but, please Ash! You don't have the faintest idea what it's like to do the same thing day after day like you're a character in a show too lazy to come up with new plot lines and the only thing that chances are the names and hairstyles and clothes!"

"You'd be surprised."

She held out her hand, palm up, and tightened it into a fist a couple times in a 'gimme' motion. "So give me Dexter."

"No! There are private thoughts in there!" he snapped. His hand automatically dove into his pocket and clasped around the device. He waited for her to come and take it from him, beat him senseless until he had no choice but to give it to her but she didn't move, merely sighed and dropped her hand so it dangled down. "You're not going to take it?"

"Wouldn't take that," she shrugged, moving so she was now laying down, belly up on the bed. "I'll beg for it though. Can I _please _read your stupid little pokedex journal that has pages and pages of poetic word about how beautiful I am? How _does _your heart beat without me near?"

"Aw, shut up! You know I'm against all that stupid mushy stuff. It doesn't have stuff like that in there, but it's got secrets; secrets that I don't want you to know!" he pouted.

She giggled, but covered her mouth with her hand in a sad attempt to hide it. "What? You're embarrassed? Come on, I promise I won't laugh! I'll even pretend I'm not reading your diary! I'll pretend it's someone else's. Please, Ash, you don't have a clue how much I adore reading about your adventures! If I could still go on them with you I swear I would! I would give anything to!"

"That doesn't mean you can look at it. And…you can't read it because it's an audio file. I recorded my voice. I can't type so it's better. Not every person is as good with computers as you."

"Did I teach you how to get Dexter to record?"

"Don't rub it in!"

"I'm not trying to!"

There was an awkward, heated silence where the two could do nothing but stare at one another. Features were beginning to thin with age. Misty was starting to curve; Ash was starting to build muscle. They were both growing into fine young people, _handsome_ young people who were just starting to realize exactly what _liking _another person meant. Childish innocence still lingered on confused faces and eyes dropped to the floor.

"Sorry I snapped at you."

"'M sorry, too. It's just…there's lots of private stuff in there. I could…I could always listen to it again and send you stuff I wouldn't mind you hearing. I'll try to keep in touch too," He murmured. Ash took the pokedex from his pocket cautiously. "Want to program your number?

She grinned. "You upgraded with a phone."

"Yeah, thought about what you said and figured I might as well play it safe. If I ever break my leg and end up at the bottom of a well…at least I'll have this stupid thing that probably won't get a signal. It's pretty pointless, but in case it ever comes in handy, like calling my mom so you stop talking about me when I'm not here."

"You're worried about the baby pictures?" Misty teased. "I already saw little naked Ash. You were an adorable baby. Especially in that one with you and Gary taking a bath together! You two looked so happy, sloshing around in that tub! Whatever happened to that? Why don't you and Gary take baths together anymore?"

Ash turned his head away and frowned. "He changed. He changed and we became rivals and you know what else? _You _changed." His voice became dark and low, too angry to be Ash's but it was certainly his lips that moved. "You changed and now we're not close. You don't argue nearly as much as you did when you traveled with me. You're so much…quieter! When you open your mouth you're still loud but you don't seem to do that anymore. I don't get why."

"I've got noticed that I'm good at noticing," she responded. Her voice was calm and cool to his anger, and she had paused before she spoke, contemplating her words. "So, I'm listening more. I'm trying to think before I act a little more. Maybe if I do that, I won't have such a problem with my temper and the kids in my town calling me some words that I'm allowed to say in public. And maybe, just maybe, we would only fight for fun instead of really, _really _arguing, where both of us get hurt and it isn't any fun at all. It's already working out better with my sisters."

"That doesn't sound like the Misty I know. The Misty I know would yell at them and kick them and say what she wants and speaks out for what she believes in! She's not all quiet and listening and all that stupid stuff!" Ash shouted.

"Oh, trust me, I still do all of that," she giggled. "I make all those smart comments when no one's listening. I say _plenty _of the words I'm not supposed to play in public and I still get smacked for making smart mouth comments about my sisters and my teachers and whoever else I'm not too happy with that day. I'm just careful to pick my battles. I'm fighting for what's worth fighting for, or something that isn't going to blow up in my face. I'm not going start a rivalry with some guy just because he doesn't like my hair. I might make a little argument, but I'm not going to blow up on him for something like that."

"But why? Why won't you be liked we were before? Why won't you hit a person you've hardly met because they got under your skin? That's who Misty was! That's what you were! That's what you should be!" Ash pleaded, looking up at her with desperate eyes.

"I still am," She sighed, shaking her head. "Ash, I'm still me. I'm still hot tempered and jealous and outspoken. I'm still the same girl, Ash, don't you ever worry about that. I can still make you cry. I'm just thinking about the consequences of unprovoked confrontational actions, usually leading to severe legal punishment."

"With words that big you've got to be Misty," He said, trying not to smile. His pout was beginning to break and the angry boy was already cheerful. "But why is everyone changing? It's not fair! I'm not changing! How come everyone else is different and I'm still the same?"

Misty gawked at him, unable to believe his words. "What do you mean, you haven't changed? You've completely changed from that idiot I pulled from the river. I can't believe you haven't noticed! From what I heard from Brock, because _he_ keeps in contact," She glared. Ash laughed and put his hand behind his head sheepishly. "I heard you were actually teaching…May?" He nodded to show she got the name right. "Yeah, May to train and all about pokémon. Unless you're teaching her to send out a caterpie against a pidgey-"

"We all make mistakes!" Ash defended.

"Then you've definitely grown and changed. You're also not fighting with her, or me, all the time, so you're a little more thoughtful and quiet too. We've all changed, Ash. It's just harder to see it in yourself because you're doing the changing."

"But I always thought…" He blushed. "When I was really little, I always thought I'd be smart when I few up. Now it turns out that I'm smart_er_, but I'm still stupid. I don't want to be stupid. Gary makes fun of me for that."

"Yes, well, Gary's can be an ass," Misty rolled her eyes. "He's threatened by you. He's afraid you'll beat him and that's why he's so aggressive with you. And you're not stupid, per se. Gullible, yes, but I don't know if we can fix that. You can learn, Ash; it's not like there's a problem with your IQ. The way you battle proves you're at least mildly intelligent. You just don't…you don't try to get smarter. You can't wake up one morning and magically be smart. I didn't wake up one morning and have big words in my head. I learned them because I read books and I looked up ones I didn't know."

"I read!" He shouted, then clapped his hand over his mouth and looked at the floor, as if he could see his mother downstairs glaring through the ceiling and at his guilty face. He corrected himself in a quieter tone, "I do too read."

"Do you look up words you don't know?" She accused. He stared for a moment, unsure of what to say, then shook his head dejectedly. "Well, you can't expect to learn anything, can you? If you just let go what you don't know, and don't _try _to know what you don't know then you'll never know it! I mean, if you can't figure out what the words means from the context, which I'm sure you probably do half the time anyway, look it up."

"What's context?" He asked.

She smiled sweetly. "You have a dictionary in here?"

"Yeah." He nodded eagerly and pointed to his bookshelf in the corner.

"Look it up!" Misty snapped. "What'd I just say, you dork?"

"I don't know because you're using big words!" He cried, waving his arms around wildly. He almost smacked Pikachu in the face, and had it not been for the mouse's fast reflexes, she probably would have been knocked unconscious.

"Context is only two syllables and it's basically spelled the way it sounds! Go grab a fricken dictionary and look up the words! I'm sure you know how to look up a word, you idiot!" She paused, then sighed. "Shoot, lost my temper again. I really have been working on that. I've been trying to change, Ash, really. I've been trying to be a better person. At least I didn't hit you."

"Why can't you just tell me what the word means? That'd be so much easier!" Ash whined.

Misty sighed again. "Because I won't always be there, Ash. I left, remember? I don't think I'm ever coming back for good either, not the way our lives are going. I've got the gym and you've got your battling. Maybe someday, far in the future, we'll meet up, but we can't rely on that, especially with the way you never keep in touch. You act as if someone will be there to help you with what you don't understand. They won't, Ash. They can't be. Just like your battles, there are some things you need to learn for yourself, do for yourself. I know that you can do it, that you can change for the better if you really want to. A little change now," She began to walk to the bookshelf in the corner, running a single finger over the spines of the books. She selected one, a small pocket dictionary and wandered back to him. "It could make a huge difference in your future."

"But what if I can't do it?" He murmured.

She grinned. "Ash, it's not complicated. It's hard, but never complicated. See, Ash, if you want to change," She threw the book with perfect aim, the book setting in his lap with a quiet thunk of the cover bouncing up and down once. "Then change."

There was a moment, then she was heading for the door, azumaril cooing in her arms. "I need to ask your mom about what she wants for her birthday. I think you should do the same, if you don't want your mom to get mad at you!"

He watched her leave, watched the door click shut, and watched Pikachu leap to his shoulder with his little mousey head cocked to one side. Then, he watched the dictionary. What could this ugly, boring little book have to offer him? The only reason he really had to open it was Misty. And what did he care about whether he could keep her faith in him? It shouldn't matter what she thought. So what if all she really had left was faith: faith in their friendship, faith in his abilities, faith that he would do his best no matter what. What did one girl matter? One girl who was scarcely a friend thanks to the vicissitudes of teenage years? One girl who, for some strange reason, cared about him and worried as much as his own mother? She was the first girl he could call his friend. Did he want to lose that? Did he care if he did?

"Context," He said finally, flipping open the book. "C…O…N…"


End file.
